Giving Thanks

Image from www.outblush.com

I thought it would be really fun to host an authentic American Thanksgiving dinner here in Vienna. We'd do it on the Saturday of Thanksgiving week - invite a few friends, cook up some goodness, and share a holiday that M and I both love. Simple.

Simple, except for the following slight challenges:

1) We have never entertained here. We invited some friends. One set of friends brought a friend. Two sets of friends have little kids. We ended up being, including us, nine adults and several children under the age of five. Dinner for, let's say, 11 and a half. We had to do a lot of chair-finding, plate-finding, and seat-arranging. We also had to try to make sure that our fairly sharp-edged apartment was at least slightly child-safe. A note on that: M and I agree both that a) places don't need to be "child-proofed" because there's really no such thing, and b) that children, in a new place, should know not to touch things or run around banging their heads on sharp-edged things. Clearly, M and I don't have children.

2) The size of our refrigerator.  It is small - it holds a couple days' supply of food for two. 

Shopping ahead of time was going to be a problem. As I began my menu planning, I made lists of everything I would need. There was no way it would all fit in the fridge. We have a storage room that is unheated. I decided that produce could all go in there for a few days. As I began to prep things, they went in there, too.

That's the bread for the stuffing drying out. In the upper left is a bike helmet and squash racquet. You will also note on the left the ridiculous amounts of butter I thought would be necessary for Thanksgiving.

3) Turkey. I abandoned the idea of doing a gorgeous whole turkey fairly quickly, for two reasons - the first is that they are hard to find and expensive. I could have gotten a Butterball at the UN Commissary, but... the second problem is the size of my oven:

It is small. It couldn't hold - from top to bottom - a turkey the size we would need to feed our guests. What to do? Turkey parts. A couple breasts and a couple legs. I could reconstruct a turkey! You know me.... for a few moments I even entertained the idea of trying to sew the cooked turkey parts together after roasting so it would look more like a turkey.... I thought about it, but I didn't. 

So, turkey parts it would be. I'd seen them before at the supermarket. I talked to the poultry people there, and asked them if I should order parts ahead of time. They said they would make sure that I could get them on Saturday morning - that way, I wouldn't have to store them in the aforementioned fridge. Good plan. I got them on Saturday - WHAT WAS I THINKING?!? There was quite a lot of turkey flesh. I got two enormous turkey breasts and four turkey legs. What kind of hybrid turkey was I trying to create? On I went.

Here's what I ended up with: (please note the trussing of the breast, since I had never trussed a blessed thing in my life before):

Next to those monstrosities is the stock I'd started earlier. I had to start it early because I knew I'd need that pot later for several things in succession.

What else? On the menu I planned ahead

- and revised liberally throughout the days prior (and during the day itself) - was: the aforementioned turkey, green beans with shallots and walnuts, the stuffing (whose bread dried for a few days before), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (oh my goodness, I needed to find marshmallows in Austria), roasted vegetables (brussels sprouts, carrots, shallots, beets), and apple pie.

After an extensive search of reasonably-priced stores, I found the marshmallows at Julius Meinl:

Without boring you [further] about each detail, let's just say there was a fair amount of juggling going on in that kitchen. And a lack of a proper pie plate. You don't - DO. NOT. make a Thanksgiving apple tart. You make a pie. Even if it's in a tart plate. Because we don't have a pie plate and you cannot find one in all of the sparkling city of Vienna (I looked). So....

Oh, and I didn't have a rolling pin:

We told our guests to arrive "around 3:00 or 3:30." When our door buzzer rang, a little after 3:00, I was (of course) not clean, not really dressed for company, kitchen was a mess, nothing was really done, except.... M made gorgeous, gorgeous, keep-people-fed-while-his-crazy-wife-cooks-like-a-maniac hors d'oevures:

Oh, and wine and other drinks: 

In the end, here's what we served:

It was a wonderful, chaotic, and heartwarming Thanksgiving. Our guests were funny, gracious, and it was a delight to have them at our table. Having friends here is a great thing. We're so lucky. And thankful.

Working backwards...

Whose idea was it to try to write a blog, anyway? Now I have to catch up. Here's what has been going on - working backwards:

- Today, I started German classes at Deutsch Akademie. There are 9 students in the class: two from Spain, one from Iran, one from Serbia, one from Bulgaria, one from Senegal, one from Canada, and two Americans (including me). Our instructor is Johannes. The class is conducted completely in German. I learned some things, but that was several hours and a glass of wine ago. I did my homework before I had a glass of wine, in case you run into Johannes.

- My sister-in-law and brother-in-law (C & E) just left after being here since Thursday. We had a wonderful time with them and it was great to have visitors! Among the many fun things we did, we saw The Barber of Seville, which is the most entertaining opera I've ever seen. I think it helps that nearly every tune sounds like either a cartoon (i.e. Loony Tunes) or a chase/misunderstanding scene in a movie. If you want to introduce your kids (or yourself) to opera, watch this one! M had to work on the Thursday and part of the Friday that they were here, so I got to try my hand at showing them Vienna. Mostly, we just walked around and when I recognized something, I would blurt it out. E liked my lunch pick because they brew their own beer. There are photos from the visit, but I don't know where our camera is. Stay tuned.

- The week before C & E came, we went to Amsterdam. It is such a charming city. I know that's what everyone says, but it's true. And the people are all very, very tall. (Look it up right here: it's official). And cool and nice and laid-back. And the language seems both stranger and (oddly) easier to learn than German. I would love to live there, though I am sure that I couldn't ever achieve the effortless cool (nor the height) that an Amsterdamer has. My cousins would fit right in. Photos also to follow.

I guess that's where we left off. Oh, and there are Italy pictures, but the more than 1,000 of them (the drawback of digital) make it also feel overwhelming to sort and post - but I will.

I've also made some great meals.

I can't believe I've been here for 3 months. More soon.